Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Jan 4, 2011 – Tuesday at McKenzie Arena during the Lady Mocs’ game against Furman Kayla Christopher, left, tries to pass the ball as Avanna Randolph guards Christopher.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team played its 200th game at McKenzie Arena on Tuesday, and it went like most of those that preceded it: The Lady Mocs won convincingly.
Led by Kayla Christopher’s career-high 30 points – she hit six of eight 3-pointers – the Lady Mocs cruised past Furman 85-69 to improve to 161-39 all-time in the Roundhouse.
The Lady Mocs played their first game in the arena in 1983 but didn’t move in full time until the 1999-2000 season, Moore’s second.
This season hasn’t yielded many easy wins for UTC, especially against Southern Conference teams, but the Lady Mocs (6-8, 3-2) began dominating Furman (6-7, 2-2) five minutes into the game.
UTC led by as many as 15 points in the first half and pushed the margin as high as 25 in the second before coach Wes Moore sent in the subs. Even then, however, he wasn’t able to relax as he watched the seldom-used players make mistakes.
“I didn’t know how to act, obviously,” said Moore, who threw his water bottle down after UTC committed a foul with 2:17 remaining.
He didn’t have much to complain about during the first 35 minutes or so.
“It was good to come out and play from the tip,” he said. “We have dug some holes this year and had to fight and battle back the whole game. It was nice to jump out and get a good start.”
Christopher said she felt focused all day leading up to the game and carried that onto the court, where she hit 11 of 15 shots.
“I tried to be extra focused because I knew it was a very important game for us,” Christopher said. “It feels really good to have a comfortable lead and be able to sit over there and relax a little bit.”
Whitney Hood was named the SoCon player of the week Tuesday after she scored a career-high 40 points last Sunday against Wofford. Against Furman, she hit eight of nine second-half shots and finished with 24 points — her ninth game with at least 22 this season.
“Kayla started hitting 3s, jumpers, everything, and they sucked into her and I was left one-on-one,” Hood said.
Bailey Dewart had one of her best all-around games with eight points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Kylie Lambert added 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks.
The Lady Mocs will be back in action Saturday when they host UNC Greensboro.
Odds and ends
The tipoff for the Lady Mocs’ game against Elon next Monday has been moved up an hour to 6 p.m. so it won’t conflict with the Bowl Championship Series national championship game. … Tennessee transfer Faith Dupree, a January enrollee who must sit out a year, was on the UTC bench for the first time Tuesday.